CEE 772
Fall 2014
Instrument Paper and Lab/Class Demo
As part of CEE 772, you will be asked to focus your studies on one of the major
analytical instruments in the EVE lab. Assignments are generally made in the third or
fourth week of classes. Your job will be to learn the fundamentals and specifics of your
particular instrument, and work with me and one of the EWRE graduate students or postdocs to develop a laboratory exercise using the instrument. You will then serve as the lab
instructor for the exercise. These lab exercises will usually take the form of
demonstrations, with some participation from the rest of the class. You will also be
asked to present some of the background on your instrument in class immediately
preceding your laboratory demonstration. Once you have picked an instrument, make an
appointment to talk to me about possible lab demos.
There are 3 major parts to this assignment:
A. Preparation and presentation of lecture material on the basics of your instrument
Just before your laboratory demonstration period, you will be asked to instruct the
class regarding the fundamentals of your instrument. This will normally be done within
the context of a regular lecture hour period (i.e., the Tue or Thurs class period). I will
help you find books or other references that you might need to consult in addition to your
textbook. You will need to prepare a PowerPoint file with overheads that you wish to
show the class. Please give me a copy of your PowerPoint file 2 days before your lecture
so that I can review/critique it and then load it on to the class web site. I will also print
them out on transparencies for your use in class. For a 50 minute class period, count on
using about 30 overheads.
B. Development and execution of the laboratory exercise with your instrument
Here you will work with me on the development of a lab exercise that everyone
can participate in. Some of the best exercises come from either simple application of the
instrument to analysis of standard environmental analytes in water/wastewater. You may
also choose to look at some applications to your own thesis/dissertatoin research. Either
way it is important to give everyone a chance to get some “hands-on” experience.
Some of your demonstration should be devoted to exploring the capabilities of the
instrument/techniques. For example, those examining gas chromatography should
consider varying the column temperature program, split ratio, detector type, column type,
etc. Be creative!
C. Preparation of a written report on your instrument
You will also be asked to prepare a written document on your instrument(s). It
will be due on the last day of classes. The document should contain the following:
1. Brief Introduction
2. Theory of the instrument
3. Physical description of the instrument with schematic diagrams
4. Detailed outline for operation of the specific instrument
5. Description of what was done in preparation for and during the laboratory
demo
6. Results from the laboratory demo and important results obtained in
preparation for the demo
7. Data analysis & Statistics
8. Discussion (focus on data quality and factors that may have affected it)
9. References
You should prepare one report per group. In most cases, you will just be a group of
“one”, and the expected level of effort it adjusted accordingly. Please prepare these so
that another graduate student can understand what you’ve written. We may place your
report on file for current and future graduate students to use in helping them learn to run
these instruments.